As used herein, the term “social interaction system” refers to any system in which users are able to electronically communicate with other users over a digital network. Social interaction systems include, for example, messaging applications, social networking websites, collaboration systems, dating websites, etc. In typical social interaction systems, each user has a virtual identity that is associated with certain information about the user. Depending on the nature of the social interaction system, that information may include, for example, a picture and name to represent the user as well as personal information such as likes and dislikes, geographic location, education, employment, contact information, and additional content chronicling the user's past. This information may be further categorized into preferences towards music, movies, television shows, hobbies, activities, and other preferences. Various social interaction systems use all or subsets of the personal information to facilitate users to interact with one another.
Typically, a virtual identity is created by a user at the time of account creation when the user responds to a series of prompts and questions. These prompts and questions are directed toward the user's actual identity, so the virtual identity will be a reflection of the actual identity. Additional media may be uploaded by a user to authenticate the connection between a user's virtual identity and the user's actual identity.
Unfortunately, when constructing a virtual identity, users are biased and may choose or supply information that does not accurately reflect their actual identity. Examples include uploading photos from when the user was younger, answering questions based on an ideal self-perception rather than objectively, basing a virtual identity on another's actual identity, having another person provide articulate responses based on the primary user's actual responses, hiding behind humor, providing objectively false information, and creating a virtual identity based on a fictional character.
The usefulness of a social interaction system may be significantly reduced by inaccuracies in the information associated with the virtual identities of its users. Further, even when accurate, non-video information associated with a virtual identity does not convey the personality of the user nearly as well as video information, due in part to the enormous amount of information conveyed by non-verbal facial expressions and gestures. Therefore, it is highly desirable to provide techniques for facilitating video-based interactions in a manner that reduces the likelihood of inaccurate or misleading information exchanges.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.